This invention relates to dispensers for wound rolls of flexible sheet material and particularly to dispensers for rolls of paper towels, tissue paper, and the like, wherein each roll has supporting spindles projecting outwardly from the ends of the core of the roll. More specifically, the dispensers to which the instant invention relates, are concerned with dispensing a web of flexible sheet material from wound rolls wherein multiple rolls can be retained for dispensing from each roll in succession with precision in unwinding the material from each roll and assurance that the leading free end on the exterior of each wound roll will feed into the dispensing mechanism with reliability so that the user will have accessibility to the sheet material exteriorly of the dispenser housing.
Numerous web dispensing constructions are known in the prior art and employed in commercial use where a paper towel dispenser, for example is mounted on a wall in a location where towel availability is desired. Considering the large number of such dispensers employed in may commercial installations such as factories, office buildings, institutions, etc., more and more attention has been devoted to consideration of the substantial expense in time and labor required in replenishing the exhausted wound rolls in such dispensers, particularly where a single roll is the limit of capability to be housed within each dispenser unit.
Accordingly, many structures have been developed to accommodate multiple rolls of wound sheet material so that the individual dispenser need only be replenished when the entire compliment of rolls within the dispenser has been exhausted, namely, where a first roll has been used up and a reserve roll is available within the dispenser to move into the dispensing position and feed out the sheet material from such reserve roll. Obviously, this reduces the time and expense required in replenishing rolls in the multitude of dispensers in a commercial establishment so that the labor cost is correspondingly reduced.
Whereas the single roll dispenser can be easily loaded with a roll by an attendant and the free leading web end on the roll threaded in and through the dispensing mechanism to be available to a user externally of the dispenser housing, the advent of dispensers accommodating multiple rolls gave rise to particular problems in providing a construction which effectively enables the leading free web end on the exterior of a reserve roll to be picked up by the dispensing mechanism in the dispenser and reliably fed out of the dispenser once an initial roll had been exhausted. The problem is to assure that this pick up and feeding from the reserve roll is effectively and accurately carried out automatically in the absence of an attendant having to return to the dispenser to start the leading free end of the reserve roll out through the feeding mechanism. Of course, this would defeat the purpose of multiple roll dispensers.
The prior art has proposed numerous ideas, constructions and mechanisms to carry out this pick up of the leading free end on a reserve roll. Each hopefully aims at getting automatic and accurate feeding of the end of the new roll into the feeding mechanism so that the multiple roll dispenser can continue operating and supply its web of sheet material to the prospective users of the dispenser. Whereas attempts in development of multiple roll dispensers have sought to achieve the ultimate, there have been numerous defects and failings in the achieving assurance that the web of paper on the reserve roll is properly picked up, properly fed to the dispensing mechanism and properly available to the prospective users exteriorally of the dispenser housing.
These problems call for structures that are simple and yet effective if the dispenser is to be readily understood and adaptable to easy loading by attendants who could become confused with structures involving complicated dispensing mechanisms where threading of even the lead end of the initial wound roll may be overly complicated. With complex dispensers, proper loading and assurance that the lead end on a reserve roll will be picked up may be beyond the comprehension of attendants who are assigned the task of loading numerous multiple roll dispensers in commercial establishments that employ a great number or even small number of multiple roll dispensers.